Richard Seltzer, seltzer@samizdat.com
We are assembling a team from St. Theresa to compete in the K-6th grade division of the Massachusetts Scholastic Chess Team Championship on Sunday, April 7, (a week after Easter), at Natick High School.
At this point, the first team consists of Chris, Tim, Andrew, and Michael from Ms. Freeman's sixth grade homeroom class. Other teams may also be formed if there is enough interest and if there are other parents who can help.
If you are on Team #1, please have one of your parents give me a call so I can be sure that it's okay with them that you get involved in this activity and that you will, in fact, be available on the day of the tournament. I'll plan on acting as coach and driving you to the event. Your parents are welcome to come too, if they like.
We will plan on leaving our house (33 Gould St. in West Roxbury) a 8:45 AM on Sunday, April 7, so we can be sure to be at the tournament site in plenty of time to be ready and warmed up for the first round, which will start at 10 AM. The tournament will probably last until at least 6 PM, perhaps later. Everyone should bring a bag lunch and some cash/change for soda and snack machines.
To sign you up as a team for this event, I need full names, addresses, and phone numbers for all players.
I'll also have to send in the entry fee and membership fees. As coach,
to get this activity started, I'll pay the $50 entry fee for this team.
But each player will need to pay $13 to become a member of the U.S. Chess
Federation and $6 to become a member of the Massachusetts Chess Association
(a total of $19). The memberships last for a year and each gets you a
subscription to a magazine with news articles about chess and listings
of other upcoming tournaments; and also means that the games that you play
will be "rated" -- based on the strength of the players you face and how
well you do against them, you will get a number that indicates your strength
on a scale used by all players in the US, including adults and including
the adult national champion. Your first provisional rating -- which you
will find out about a couple of months after this tournament will probably
be between 600 and 1000. The top 12 year old player in Massachusetts currently
has a rating of about 2100. A rating of 2000 makes you an "expert".
A rating of 2200 makes you a "master". The very best players in the US
now
have ratings around 2600-2700.
We expect that between 20 and 30 teams of four players each will represent schools from all over Massachusetts in this section of this event. The top five teams will receive trophies -- one trophy for the school and a trophy for each of the team members. It would be great if we could win a trophy, but keep in mind that this is the first rated (official) chess tournament for every player on our team. We'll all be learning. Any and every victory will be great, and we'll all try to learn from games lost to get stronger for the next game.
On the day of the tournament, you will play four games. This is known as a "Swiss" tournament, as opposed to a "knockout" tournament. Unlike the football playoffs, here you play in all rounds -- everybody plays four games; and the winner is the team that does best overall.
Also, you are playing as a team, rather than as individuals. Everybody
plays their own separate games (without talking/coaching/suggestions from
others). And each round, they total the number of wins, losses, and draws
for each
team. If your team wins two games and loses two games, then you draw/tie
(2 to 2) with the team you are playing against that round. If you win two,
draw one, and lose one, you win that round (2-1/2 to 1-1/2). And, of course
if you do better than that (for instance win all your games), you win the
round as well. If at the end of the tournament, two teams are tied in match
points, then the tie break will be the number of game points you have
-- so it does matter if you win 4-0 as opposed to 3-1, and it does matter
if you lose 1-3 instead of 0-4. Every game counts.
There are four important rules/procedures that you'll all have to get
used to before the tournament.
1) You must not talk to any player who is playing a game. Even if that
player gets up to go to the rest room or to walk around the tournament
floor and gather his thoughts -- do not talk. If your game is over, there
will be rooms available to go to where you can talk to your opponent and
go over the game, or to play speed chess and talk with other players who
have finished
their round and are waiting for the next to begin.
2) Practice using a chess clock. The games will be timed, though you
will have so much time available none of you will use it all up. In the
first two rounds, both you and your opponent will have 45 minutes to make
all your moves. (In other words, if you each used all your available time,
the game would last an hour and a half). In the last two rounds you will
each have 60
minutes (or a total of two hours for the two of you). With so much
time available, it is very unlikely that anyone will lose or win a game
because of time. But you need to be familiar with how the clock works,
and also get into the habit of hitting the start button on the clock every
time you make a move. We have three working clocks here at our house, and
a fourth that
we'll try to get fixed in time for the team tournament.
3) These games are all "touch move." If you touch a piece, you have
to move it (if moving it is legal). And if you take your hand off a piece
after having moved it, that's the square where it must stay. There are
no "take backs."
4) If you possibly can, you should write down your moves, preferably
with the modern system where the squares are named with numbers and letters.
We'll need to practice to get used to these rules (which very few people abide by in informal friendly games), and also to give you some experience and help you become stronger players.
At this point, at our house we have three good clocks and three good chess sets. We also have lots of chess books, for those of you who are advanced enough to use chess books. We also have a good chess player program on two PCs at our house, and the ability to play chess over the Internet. We should plan on getting together at least four times between now and the tournament date. Please let Tim know when you are available/when you'd like to do it; or give us at call.
For chess lessons and other afterschool and summer courses, check Mindlabs www.mindlabsonline.com (run by Bob Seltzer)
This site is Published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132. (617) 469-2269. seltzer@samizdat.com
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